Direction control device for a ceiling fan

ABSTRACT

A direction control device for a ceiling fan has a direction control circuit arranged in a switch box of the ceiling fan and a remote receiver placed in a place exterior of the ceiling fan. Conducting wires are electrically connected between the direction control circuit and a set of connectors retained inside the switch box. With the aforementioned arrangement, control signals received by the remote control are sent to the direction control circuit through said wires and connectors to determine the rotation direction of the ceiling fan. Further, since the direction control circuit is placed inside the switch box of the ceiling fan, the installing process of the direction control device is simple.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a direction control device for a ceiling fan, and more particularly to a control device that is easy to be installed in the ceiling fan.

2. Related Art

The ceiling fan has been widely used to provide a cooling function as well as a decorative effect. Because the ceiling fan is secured to ceiling and suspended therefrom, it may have remote control capability so that a user can conveniently control the operation of the ceiling fan. Such a remote control operation is accomplished by using a remote controller to transmit wireless signals to the ceiling fan, and those signals are received by a receiver of the ceiling fan to control the operation states thereof.

FIG. 3 shows a ceiling fan which has a canopy (83), a motor (80), a hanger rod (82) suspended from the canopy (83) and extending through the motor (80), a plurality of blades (81) connected to the motor (80) and a switch box (84) secured to the bottom of the hanger rod (82). The switch box (84) has a pull chain (85) to be used to manually control the operation of the ceiling fan.

Where such a ceiling fan is provided with a remote control and rotation direction control capabilities, a remote receiver and a direction control device (not shown) are both installed in the canopy (83). Although the space inside the canopy (83) is large enough to accommodate the receiver and the direction device, the installation process is difficult. As the direction control to the motor (80) is accomplished by switching the power connection lines (power polarities) thereof, the connection lines of the motor (80) have to be connected to the switch box (84) such that the operation of the motor (80) can be controlled by the pull chain (85), and then redirected to the switch box (84) through the hanger rod (82). The hanger rod (82) is hollow to receive electrical wires or the like. However, the inner diameter of the hanger rod (82) is usually so small such that the connection wires of the motor (80) are difficult to be extended therethrough. Particularly, the connection wires have to be manually extended through the hanger rod (82), which results in difficulty in assembly of a ceiling fan. Therefore, there is a need for the above ceiling fan control device to be improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a direction control device for a ceiling fan which is easily installed in the ceiling fan.

To achieve the objective, the control device includes:

-   -   a direction control circuit arranged in a switch box of the         ceiling fan;     -   a remote receiver arranged in an exterior position away from the         ceiling fan and electrically connected to the direction control         circuit;     -   wherein said remote receiver is connected with conducting wires         that are electrically connected to the direction control circuit         by a combination of connectors retained in the switch box of the         ceiling fan;     -   wherein said remote receiver is secured on the wall inside the         house.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a ceiling fan having a rotation control device installed therein in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2A-2C are a circuit diagram of the control device in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional ceiling fan.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIG. 1, a ceiling fan includes a body (10) having a motor (not shown) contained therein, a canopy (13) mounted above the body (10) via a hanger rod (12), and a switch box (14) secured to the bottom of the body (10).

A direction control circuit (20) is preferably provided inside the switch box (14) and a remote receiver (30), on which manual operation buttons (31) are arranged, can be secured on a wall and electrically connected to the direction control circuit (20) through conducting wires (200) that are indoor wires pre-arranged inside the house. Further, said direction control circuit (20) also could be attached on the body (10) of the ceiling fan.

Further, the direction control circuit (20) is electrically connected with connection lines (not shown) of the motor and conducting wires (200) of the remote receiver (30). The connection lines of the motor and the conducting wires (200) are both connected to a male connector (21). In this preferred embodiment, the direction control circuit (20) is connected to a female connector (22) to correspondingly connect to the male connector (21). With such a connection of male and female connectors (21, 22), the direction control circuit unit (20) is electrically connected to the motor and through the conducting wires (200) to the remote receiver (30). The detailed operation of the direction control circuit (20) is explained as follows:

With reference to FIGS. 2A-2C, the direction control circuit (20) includes a power supply unit (23) for supply power thereto via the female connector (22), a detection circuit (24) for sensing signals received by the remote receiver (20), a microprocessor (25) connected to the detection circuit (24) for receiving the control signals from the detection circuit (24), and a relay drive circuit (26) controlled by the microprocessor (25). The female connector (22) has multiple sockets (numbered from 1 to 9) for receiving the pins (also numbered from 1 to 9) of the male connector (21), respectively. Therefore, control signals from the remote receiver (30) can be directed to the female connector (22) via the conducting wires (200) and transferred to other components.

The power supply unit (23) is capable of rectifying and regulating voltage to provide a working voltage to the entire direction control circuit (20).

The detection circuit (24) is used to sense the signals output from the remote receiver (30), including control signals and an acknowledgement signal periodically generated in normal condition. All the sensed signals are then sent to the microprocessor (25) for activating the relay drive circuit (26).

The relay drive circuit (26) is provided to control a switch circuit having two relay switches (260) operated synchronously. The two relay switches (260) are connected to the two coils of the motor and the input power via an activation capacitor (27) and the male and female connectors (21, 22).

When the relay drive circuit (26) is activated, the two relay switches make changes in switching states at the same time to change the direction of the current in the coils of the motor thereby making a change in the rotation direction of the motor.

With the structure of the ceiling fan and the control device as described above, a user can always control the operation of the motor by pressing the manual operating buttons (31). In addition, when the user makes a change to the rotation direction of the ceiling fan by using a remote controller, the remote receiver (30) on the wall receives the control signal and sends it to the direction control circuit (20) through the conducting wires (200). Accordingly, the microprocessor (25) of the direction control circuit (20) is operated to activate the relay drive circuit (26) to synchronously change the states of the two relay switches of the switch circuit (260) thereby changing the power line connection of the motor such that the rotation direction of the motor is changed.

Because the direction control device in accordance with the present invention and the remote receiver (30) are respectively installed in the switch box (14) and on the wall, instead of being installed together, the motor connection is not required to be redirected to the canopy (13) to provide the ceiling fan with both the remote control and rotation direction control capabilities. Therefore, the assembly process for the ceiling fan is easier.

The invention may be varied in many ways by a skilled person in the art. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A direction control device for a ceiling fan having a canopy (13), a body (10) with a motor retained therein, a hanger rod (12) suspended from said canopy (13) and extended through the motor and a switch box (14) secured to a bottom of the body (10), the direction control device comprising: a direction control circuit (20) arranged in the switch box (14) of the ceiling fan; a remote receiver (30) arranged in an exterior position away from the ceiling fan and electrically connected to the direction control circuit (20); and wherein said remote receiver (30) is connected with conducting wires (200) that are electrically connected to the direction control circuit (20) by a set of connectors (21, 22) via the canopy (13), the hanger rod (12) and the body (10).
 2. The direction control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the set of connectors (21, 22) is composed of a female connector (22) electrically connected to the direction control circuit (20) and a male connector (21) electrically connected with the conducting wires (200) and connection lines of the motor, wherein the male and female connectors (21, 22) are correspondingly connected together whereby the direction control circuit (20) is electrically connected to the remote receiver (30).
 3. The direction control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conducting wires (200) are indoor wires pre-arranged inside a building.
 4. The direction control device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conducting wires (200) are indoor wires pre-arranged inside a building.
 5. The direction control device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the direction control circuit (20) comprises: a power supply unit (23) for supplying power to the direction control circuit (20) via a female connector (22); a detection circuit (24) for sensing signals received by the remote receiver (20); a microprocessor (25) connected to the detection circuit (24) for receiving control signals from the detection circuit (24); and a relay drive circuit (26) controlled by the microprocessor (25), wherein the relay drive circuit (26) controls two relay switches (260) connected to coils of the motor and input power via an activation capacitor (27), the male and female connectors (21, 22) control the direction of the current flowing in the coils of the motor.
 6. The direction control device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the direction control circuit (20) comprises: a power supply unit (23) for supplying power to the direction control circuit (20) via the female connector (22); a detection circuit (24) for sensing signals received by the remote receiver (20); a microprocessor (25) connected to the detection circuit (24) for receiving control signals from the detection circuit (24); and a relay drive circuit (26) controlled by the microprocessor (25), wherein the relay drive circuit (26) controls two relay switches (260) connected to coils of the motor and input power via an activation capacitor (27), the male and female connectors (21, 22) control the direction of the current flowing in the coils of the motor. 